3D modeling: Nine square grid

Nine square grid

Put your Model and Sculpt expertise to the test in a classic Grid Exercise, borrowed and adapted from basic 3D visual design. Learn how to turn overly rigid “perfect” geometries into “real-world” geometries. The practice this exercise provides will eliminate most of the frustrations you might encounter when modeling your artwork.

In a tactile 3D design course, the classic Nine Square Grid is done by exploring different materials, such as plaster or bristol board, and explores processes such as additive or subtractive modeling. The forms are typically abstracted materially by applying white paint—a suitable move for our exercise, with its emphasis on form and volume. In a 3D design course taught by Ray Horner at Kean University, students create the variety of forms seen below.

Getting Started

Use the physical project above as the inspirational basis for creating a digital version of the Nine Square Grid. But we do it with a twist: we don’t fill every space in the grid! Five out of the nine spaces will be filled with some kind of mass. The remainder will become a negative space or void. Mass and void are the 3D equivalents of Gestalt figure and ground.

Below you can see an orthographic top view of a variety of mass-void relationships in a nine-square grid, where the white square represents the presence of a mass. The dark and light gray squares represent void spaces on the grid, a bit like the pattern of a tiny chess-board:

Our first job will be to model the “chessboard” spaces, which we’ll call the datum.

Modeling the base and cubes

• Create a new Maya Project folder, named nineSquareGrid.
• Create a scene named yourname_nineSquareGrid.mb and save it to the project scenes folder.
• Make the chess-board-like base:
  • Using Grid Snaps and/or parametric input, generate a shallow rectangular solid, 0.5 units high (in the Y direction) and 24 units in the X and Z directions.
  • Create 3 subdivisions in the X and Z directions to generate 9 squares; each square should be 8 units.
  • Using Face sub-object selection and applying a simple Lambert material, alternate the colors of the faces in very subtle shades of gray, like a chessboard.
  • Center the object in the reference grid, and make the top face congruent with the XZ axis. 
• In the scene, create 5 cubes (unique instances: don’t copy them).
  • Each cube should be 6X6X6 units.
  • The base should be congruent with the XZ reference grid.
  • Center each element on a square in the “chessboard.” Use the illustration above for inspiration.
  • Apply a white Lambert material to each cube.
• Add at least two light sources and use a white environment in your camera background.
• When complete, save the file and render at 3000 wide X 2000 high pixels in .jpg format. 
• Save the scene and close Maya.

We’ll return to this scene later.

Modifying the cubes

Now, drawing inspiration from the Horner projects above, imagine a visual vocabulary that will distort the cubes, carving or molding them into new forms whose origins are still recognizable as having started out as cubes.

• In a sketchbook or equivalent ideation tool, create a sketch of what you’d like to do with your cubes. Keep the forms highly abstract and simple. Conceptually transform/deform each cube into a new, unique form. At the same time that each form is unique, the relationships between the forms should create a sense of unity, wholeness, and conceptual clarity.
• Remember visual principles: repeating an element can create a pattern, mirroring it can create symmetry, etc. Most importantly, consciously develop mass and void relationships.

Save your file and sketches for later. Before we apply your sketched transformations to your scene, we need to learn a workflow technique essential for any high-resolution photo-real project. Discover the wonders of the micro-bevel…

Micro-beveling: the hidden challenge

The Elements project attempts a means of expression based on Realism. Observe the test rendering you created above, and you might notice they appear too, well, perfect.

In reality, we don’t experience geometry the way an algorithm creates it. Look at the corners of anything that exists in the world, and they are rounded, even ever so slightly, even if that’s at a quantum level. At some scale of observation, things just are not perfect expressions of geometric precision. In modeling, we call this knock-down a micro-bevel.

One of the most difficult conceptual leaps 3D modelers have to make is understanding that they are not making a thing: they are manipulating a database. From an algorithmic standpoint, surfaces are databases, whose visual expression is your model. Object subdivisions are roughly analogous to cells in a spreadsheet database. How you set up your database affects the outcome of future operations in a workflow. In other words, if your end goal is to create a complex shape that has 4 operational steps applied to it, you need to start with a database that will allow those operations without suddenly turning completely wonky on you at step 3.

So the case studies below will help you get past the frustrations this workflow logic creates for newbies. You’ll begin to see that getting a great micro-bevel typically takes about 3-5 steps with careful planning, the right number and kind of subdivisions or the correct initial setup being of chief concern.

Case Studies

Scenarios

Let’s apply these case studies to some actual scenarios. Here, you can find reference files that are digital replications of Ray Horner’s student objects above. Take a look at each file as a reference to help you understand similar circumstances in your model.

Your turn

Return to the Maya scene file in the scenes folder of your project. COPY IT, rename the file yourname_nineSquareGrid02.mb, and open it to make, or in some instances re-make, the objects, this time to create realistic micro-bevels. Here, Maya will frustrate you, but there are some hints and tricks to getting it to act like you want it to:

• Depending on how you choose to model, your original reference objects may end up simply being “placeholders” and that’s OK. In other words, you will likely decide it’s better to start the form with some other object than the original reference object—in which case you’ll delete and replace the original.

Polygons

• If you are using polygons and you reach for the Bevel command, you’ll most often want to avoid Boolean-formed objects, although some Boolean formations will work. Instead, think about how to use extrusion/face-scaling and other tools to mold the shape:
  • After you Bevel a poly object, you might notice some unsightly “folds” in your face. Depending on the nature of the object, you’ll want to experiment with deleting unnecessary edges and vertices before Bevel. Be aware of the number of Undo levels you have available as you experiment, perhaps working on a copy of the object off to one side for safety.
  • If the “folds” persist, you can experiment with adding edge loops, applying Add Divisions and/or Triangulate and/or Clean-up commands, and/or pressing 3 on the keyboard to smooth.
  • In the case of very acute or oblique angles, you may have to experiment with a variety of experimental combinations of the above. There is no magic bullet, but you want to shoot for the simplest (least number of steps) solution. If it feels convoluted, it probably is. 

NURBS

• If you are using NURBS, here follows a decent workflow for many circumstances:
  • Create the form by applying Loft or Revolve to a curve, and any kind of sculpting or deformers to that.
  • Apply Global Stitch to the object and move it away from the original. The stitched object will look strange at first. Don’t worry.
  • Add Isoparms very close to the edges of the original object, and observe the changes in the stitched object. This will constrain the odd stitching and bring it under control.
  • Delete By Type>History will isolate the stitched object for further refinement, but be sure that you’ll not need to do anything further to the original objects. Again, working on copies off to one side and being aware of Undo levels are your safety tips.
  • Press 3 on the keyboard to smooth, which people often forget you can do with NURBS.

Staging and lighting

• Don’t forget to micro-bevel your “chessboard.”
• Add simple lighting and a Camera and Aim, such as you’ve done for earlier projects.

When you have finished your work, render the first and second versions of the file at 3000 wide X 2000 high in .jpg format, upload it to your image host, and post it to your blog. In the blog, describe your idea for the exercise and your modeling methodology in Maya. Compare the test images (with sharp, “unreal” edges) to the final micro-beveled versions.

In our next exercise, we’ll add different kinds of materials to a copy of this model!